Speaker highlights brain damage from drugs

John Underwood, director of the American Athletic Institute, spoke rapid-fire for two hours to youths and parents Tuesday at a town-hall meeting in Kalispell hosted by Stop Underage Drinking in the Flathead Coalition.

Underwood’s message was stark: Alcohol and drugs used by those from their teens to early 20s damage the brain, diminishing athletic and other performance for life.

“You mess with this and your body won’t perform as it could or should,” Underwood said.

His graphics showing SPECT scans of underperforming, battle-scarred brains due to alcohol and drugs left one of the biggest impressions of the night.

Unlike other scans providing physical views, the SPECT shows how the brain functions through blood flow and activity.

The moderately well-attended event at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell began with Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry making a call to action with statistics that reveal Montana ranks number one in the nation for drug and alcohol abuse.

“That’s a pretty sobering statistic,” Curry said. “Other states are doing what’s in the best interest of their kids. We should be doing whatever we can to protect our kids from drugs and alcohol.”

Curry said access to drugs and alcohol remains the number one problem influencing underage drinking and drug use. He cited a 2,500-percent increase in marijuana use and a survey in which 66 percent of teens said alcohol was easy to get.

“Forty percent of kids have ridden in a car with an impaired driver,” Curry said.

He introduced Underwood with a long list of his accomplishments, from being a college All-American and international distance runner to coach or adviser to more than two dozen Olympians as well as Navy SEALs.

A crusader for drug-free sports, Underwood serves as a master trainer for New York Public High Schools, one of the largest mandated drug prevention programs.

“He has conducted the only physiological case studies of the residual effect of alcohol on elite athletic performance,” Curry said.

Saying that this visit marked his fourth or fifth time in the Flathead, Underwood echoed Curry’s concerns about not only alcohol use here but also the exponential growth of marijuana — a toxic  brew damaging brains in the most vulnerable years of 12 to 21.

He argued for programs of education and information to answer youths when they ask the inevitable: “Why not use drugs and alcohol?”

“You have to have reasons,” he said. “We have to help kids make better decisions — 73 percent of parents are not getting the job done.”

Switching between addressing parents to talking to youths in the audience, Underwood said he could provide compelling information but it was up to them to put it into practice.

“Pack mentality rules in this country,” he said “Today, people don’t weigh out the consequences. ‘Just Do it’ and think about it later.”

He said drug use, including alcohol, starts in the sixth grade and increases all through high school and into college. Underwood said this is normal today compared to his generation when it was much less.

Underwood pointed to time spent with peers as a huge contributing factor with peer pressure increasing as the number of youths together grows larger.

“They’re sending less time with us and more time with their buds,” he said.

He urged the community to take any and all measures to halt the destruction of youths by drugs and alcohol. Underwood’s appearance at local schools and the town hall mark some of the measures taken by the coalition directed by Linda Ravicher.

Citing one local high school where more than 70 percent of youths are involved in sports, Underwood said he has found the impact of drugs and alcohol on athletic performance a potent tool in helping young people decide against imbibing in the years when their brain’s decision-making ability has yet to fully form.

Underwood said that research in the last 10 years into human performance has found that the brain and central nervous system impact athletic prowess more than the heart, lungs and muscles. Messages firing efficiently within the brain, the body’s computer, elevate an athlete from average to elite.

“If it has many glitches, it doesn’t work,” he said.

Brain mapping, according to Underwood, has pinpointed “where everything is that controls everything.” 

From birth to age 3, the brain experiences a huge growth in “wiring.”  Another huge growth phase takes place from 12 to 21.

With the onset of puberty, Underwood said the brain begins a huge pruning or editing process.

“If a kid starts drinking or smoking weed, it takes a huge hit,” he said. “The damage begins immediately — some of it is irreversible.”

The impact of alcohol begins in the prefrontal cortex, affecting thinking and cognitive function, then moves to inhibit morality and decision-making.

Underwood said ask anyone and he or she will say the worst decisions they ever made were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

He called alcohol the most abused drug in America and said the drug “takes no prisoners.” Underwood had many stories of promising athletic careers ruined by testing positive for alcohol or drugs.

“Think about what you care about before you ‘Just do it,’” he said to the youths in the audience.

He had statistics of performance declines: an 11 percent decline in explosive power of sprinters as residual impact of alcohol and drugs. Underwood said a study found male athletes with the testosterone level of women following binges.

“One night of drinking can erase as much as two weeks of athletic training,” Underwood said. “Show this to athletes and see if they still want to go out drinking after a game.”

He implored the youth to “Live the Life of an Athlete,” referring to a program by that name he has implemented in other schools. Underwood asked the audience to get it started in local schools.

“This isn’t hard sell,” he said. “If you can educate people, you can change the way they live their lives.”

People interested in more information may consult his website, www.americanathleticinstitute.org, or call 518-796-6337.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com .